Rightio, thank you to Clare from Buggyfit who said how she really likes reading my weekly newsletter & asked me if I could do more ‘Tips’ – nutritional tips especially.
So yes, of course I always love to be asked to write about something, so much easier than me thinking each week what to write about!! Hence today is Tips for ALL of you – whether you are pregnant, have no kids or are menopausal, hopefully there will be something for you.
Here we go:
Tip 1 – Drinking around meal times – to be honest I can’t remember where I read this, but it makes sense so I do tell my classes this. Basically, drink sips of water throughout the day but avoid drinking with a meal. Many vitamins get pee’d out so you could be peeing out all those nutritional benefits from your meal.
Tip 2 – Look at the ingredients of these ‘health bars’. You’ll see they are full of sugar or synthetic sweeteners. So instead of grabbing a ‘healthy bar’ have a couple of dates and put a blob of a nut butter in them OR cut an apple up and have it with a spoonful of a nut butter OR for those hating a nut butter – 1/2 a mashed up avo with a little tomato on a piece of sourdough bread / or rice cakes.
Tip 3 – Feeling low in energy or getting leg cramps? It could be you are low in magnesium. Try a few of these magnesium rich foods: chunk of Cheddar, cooked Salmon, raw spinach on your meal, few squares of dark chocolate, Cashew nuts & pumpkin seeds. You can also get a magnesium spray and spray it on your skin before bed – helps relax you too.
Tip 4 – You don’t need to spend an hour exercising – unless you want to of course! However, a whole-body work out: 3 big muscle groups – leg, arms & heart! Do 2 – 3 sets of: 20 squats or lunges, 15 -20 press ups or tricep dips & 30 sec on 10 sec recovery x4 of sprinting on the spot (or power walk).
Tip 5 – IF you or any of your family suffer from constipation – get a little step/stool and put it by the loo – always best to sit RELAXED on the loo with knees above your hips.
Tip 6 – do you go to the loo a lot even if you haven’t drunk much but go ‘just in case’? If so start counting how long you are weeing for! Count 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi etc etc. If you only manage 4 or 5 Mississippi’s then you don’t need to go. So, use diversion tactics – take your mind off your bladder – count DOWN from 102 to 0 in 7’s or 8’s – if you aren’t great at maths like me it will take your mind off needing to go!!
Tip 7 – Cholesterol – have you been told you are high in it?? If so find out which type you are high in. LDL is the ‘bad’ cholesterol and HDL is the ‘good’ – actually having a higher HDL is good as it is associated with a lower risk of heart disease. So do ALWAYS ask for a breakdown in your cholesterol.
Tip 8 – just STOP NOW – yes for 1 minute, close your eyes and try taking a breath – filling your rib cage – try and imagine it expanding out to the side. Count in for 4, hold for 4 and then exhale for 6. Do this slowly and see how you feel. There is SO MUCH BENEFIT from just taking 30 sec to a 60 sec 3 – 4x a day to slowly take a breath through your diaphragm. It will relax your nervous system and hence relax you!
I hope you enjoy this little mish mash of tips – I will be doing another ‘Top Tips’ piece next week so give some of these a go and please feed back – let us know what you tried and if they have worked!!